Apparatus and method for network - initiated real - time multi - party communications

ABSTRACT

A method for providing telecommunications services in a telecommunications network. A telecommunications service provider monitors data relating to communications initiation criteria for at least two communicants in the telecommunications network and initiates communications between the at least two communicants if, by processing the data, it is determined that the criteria have been met.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to telecommunications systems andmore particularly to a novel mode of operation in which atelecommunications system itself initiates a message exchange betweentwo or more communicants, conditioned upon the system's determination ofthe utility (i.e., the usefulness or value) yielded by that initiative.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Real-time telecommunications systems have conventionally operatedin a communicant-driven mode, in which the first step in a messageexchange is that of a communicant transmitting a request for a channelto another specific communicant. The request may be accepted by thesecond communicant, with acceptance followed by a message exchange inreal time over a channel set up by the network following acceptance ofthe initial “request for message exchange” (hereinafter, “RFME”).

[0003] As used herein, the term “telecommunications network” refers toall elements of an electrical, electronic, optical, or acousticalcommunications system, including those elements involved in thecarriage, routing, switching, storage, forwarding, modulating,encrypting, or decrypting of messages, but excluding those elementswhich, in a particular instance, are defined herein as “communicants”.

[0004] As used herein, the term “communicant” refers to an originator ora recipient of a message carried by the network.

[0005] As used herein, the term “addressable device” refers to a deviceto which messages may be sent using a network address. An addressabledevice may be either a part of the network, or a communicant, dependingupon its function. For example, in the public switched telephone network(hereinafter, “PSTN”), when a person answers a ringing telephone, thetelephone is an addressable device, and the person is a communicant. Incontrast, when a telephone answering machine automatically answers acall, the telephone answering machine is both an addressable device anda communicant.

[0006] The PSTN is perhaps the most ubiquitous example of a real-timetelecommunications network operating in this conventional,communicant-driven mode. In its most general form, an addressable device(e.g., a station device, which may be an ordinary telephone), is causedby a communicant to go “off-hook”, and, upon receipt of a dial tone, totransmit an RFME to another station device by dialing the telephonenumber that constitutes that device's network address. The stationdevice then accepts this request by itself going off-hook, and afull-duplex audio channel is opened between the two station devices.Station devices and full-duplex audio channels are conventionallyrelated in a one-to-one fashion (i.e., in a single-channel protocol),such that a station device can support only one concurrent full-duplexaudio channel.

[0007] This mode of operation is characterized by a familiar set offailure conditions which diminish its utility to communicants, to theoperator of the telecommunications system, and to the economic andsocial entities served by the telecommunications system (e.g., people,businesses, society as a whole).

[0008] Some of these failure conditions are:

[0009] Receiver Station Busy:

[0010] The addressable device to which an RFME is addressed may beengaged in another message exchange at the time the request istransmitted. Insofar as the system architecture does not permit stationsto interact with multiple simultaneous real-time channels, the messageexchange desired by the initiating communicant cannot occur at thattime. An example of this in the world of conventional telephony is abusy signal.

[0011] Addressable Device Not Responsive:

[0012] The addressable device to which the RFME is addressed, althoughnot at that time engaged in another message exchange, does not respondto the RFME. An example of this in the world of conventional telephonyis where a telephone rings, but it is not answered.

[0013] Communicant Not Responsive:

[0014] The addressable device to which the RFME is addressed responds tothe request by going off hook, but the communicant with whom theinitiating communicant desires to communicate does not respond to theaddressable device. An example of this in the world of conventionaltelephony is where an answering machine answers a call.

[0015] Each of these failure conditions diminishes the utility derivedfrom the telecommunications network. The time and the expense investedby the initiating communicant in the attempt to establish real-timemessage exchange with the other communicant fails in each case to yieldthe sought-after utility and so are lost. Similarly, revenues and/orother utility associated with network usage are lost by the networkoperator and/or network owner.

[0016] Other opportunity costs may be incurred by the initiatingcommunicant insofar as his addressable device, while engaged in a failedattempt to establish communications with another communicant, is notavailable to initiate or accept other message exchanges.

[0017] A familiar and ubiquitous set of solutions has developed withregard to these failure conditions, although each of these solutions hasshortcomings, and fails to achieve the maximum possible utility soughtby communicants and/or by the network's operators and/or owners.

[0018] Queuing is widely used as a solution to the problems caused bysingle-channel protocol that many networks have imposed uponcommunicants.

[0019] A typical queuing solution eliminates some or all denials of RFMEby incorporating a network layer upstream of the communicant in thenetwork architecture. This intermediary layer can accept multipleconcurrent requests for message exchange addressed to the communicant,manage multiple concurrent real-time message channels, and hand off eachsuch channel to the communicant as the communicant's addressable devicebecomes available. A familiar example of this class of queuing solutionis seen in PBX and similar devices, in conjunction with PSTN hunt groupsor functionally similar PSTN provisioning.

[0020] A striking feature of the queuing solution to denial of RFME insingle-channel protocol networks is that the initiating communicant,while queued for the communicant to which he addressed the RFME, isfunctionally segregated from all other network communicants. Hisaddressable device is dedicated to waiting in a queue, and cannot acceptRFMEs or initiate an RFME to other communicants. Enormous amounts oftime are lost by communicants being “placed on hold”. This inefficiency,from the queued communicant's standpoint, can be mitigated somewhat ifhe, too, has a queuing solution which allows him to initiate and receiveRFMEs while the outgoing RFME is queued.

[0021] Another familiar solution to failures of communicant-initiatedRFME entails reducing the communications mode from real-time tostore-and-forward.

[0022] The conventional telephone answering machine is an example ofthis class of solution, wherein the communicant's addressable device isavailable but the communicant himself is not responsive for one reasonor another.

[0023] Telco “voice mail” is another example, which, depending on theimplementation, may also involve a queuing component. In any case, whenthe outcome of an RFME addressed to a specific addressable device is notaccepted (i.e., the addressable device is not available or does notexpressly accept the RFME) the network offers to record a message fromthe initiating communicant which may subsequently be made available tothe addressee.

[0024] All of the solutions to the inefficiencies and lack of utilityinherent in communicant-initiated networks are aimed at mitigation, anddo not alter the role of the network as a passive entity.

[0025] In contrast, Network Initiated Communications (hereinafter,“NIC”) offers an alternative mode which differs fundamentally from theconventional, communicant-initiated mode of establishing communicationsbetween communicants.

[0026] NIC offers:

[0027] 1. A solution to avoid losing utility from the failure conditionsdescribed earlier, rather than a solution which mitigates the effects ofsuch lost utility; and

[0028] 2. Opportunities for exploitation of novel classes of utilityinherent in present telecommunications technology, such as wirelessnetworks.

[0029] One object of the present invention is therefore to overcome thedisadvantages of the communicant-initiated methods and systems forcommunications by providing a network-initiated method and system forcommunications.

[0030] Another object of the present invention is to allow for new typesof communications, not possible with conventional communicant-initiatedcommunication methods and systems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0031] In accordance with the present invention, communicants on atelecommunications network do not attempt to initiate communicationswith other communicants by the addressing of an RFME, but rather, thenetwork itself initiates setup of message exchange between two or morenetwork communicants when the network determines that pre-specified orcalculated conditions or criteria are met.

[0032] The types of conditions which are necessary and/or sufficient forNIC may vary as a function of the technological capabilities of thenetwork to measure, calculate, and identify the parameters comprisingthose conditions, and as a function of the utility desired by thenetwork's users, owners and other interested parties.

[0033] One broad class of conditions or criteria are those comprised ofparameters associated with the physical and functional status of thenetwork's components individually. The availability of addressabledevices, the traffic load as a percentage of maximum capacity, thephysical location of one or more addressable devices and, in the case ofwireless, the movement of one or more addressable devices may all betaken into account as determinants of NIC.

[0034] Environmental parameters such as date, time, weather conditions,pollution levels, tides, and ambient radiation levels are another suchclass of parameters.

[0035] Other variables associated with human activities such asfinancial, commercial, political, and economic parameters,transportation systems' status and schedules, individuals' personalattributes, preferences and desires, and offers of goods, services,companionship, etc. are another class of parameters.

[0036] The values assigned by the network to the variables it uses indetermining whether or not to initiate communication between two or morenetwork communicants can be determined by the network itself, can beobtained from the communicants, and/or can be obtained from othersources external to the network. The values can be assigned to thesevariables at any time in the determination process.

[0037] The network's determination that the conditions have been met forinitiating a real-time communication between two or more networkcommunicants is preferably the outcome of an analysis which may bearithmetic, logical, statistical, probabilistic, or random, or mayincorporate elements of more than one, or all, of these methodologies.

[0038] The method of analysis executed in a particular instance may bespecified by any interested party, including the network's designer(s),owner(s), operator(s), or users(s), either singly or in any combination.

[0039] In accordance with the present invention, the determination toinitiate communications between two or more communicants can be basedupon any combination of the above-mentioned parameters and methods ofanalysis. Additionally, a randomizing factor may be introduced into thedetermination. For example, a communicant may wish to receive a call ata randomly selected time and/or with a randomly selected person chosenfrom among those who meet certain criteria.

[0040] The execution of the analysis determining NIC between two or morenetwork communicants is supported in a facility central to the networkarchitecture (a connection processor), such that the connectionprocessor is receptive of the status of all network components, and ofall data (“input data”), involved in the determination of the initiationof communications.

[0041] The input data itself may be maintained centrally or indistributed fashion, or both.

[0042] For example, a central database may consist of a routing tableusing conventional physical addressing enhanced by a conditionaladdressing element consisting of each communicant's criteria foracceptance of NICs. Rather than consisting only of a network address, asin the PSTN, of the form NPA-NXX-SSSS, this conditional address mayconsist, for example, of both a conventional PSTN NPA-NXX-SSSS address,and additional data, such as Hours of Receptivity, AcceptableCo-Communicant (e.g., one or more NPA-NXX-SSSS addresses), procedurallogic to be used in the determination of whether or not to initiatecommunications, etc.

[0043] An example of such procedural logic which would initiate a callbetween the communicant entering the procedural logic into theconnection processor and the station device with address 212-555-1234during specified times is: IF (Current Time is within Hours ofReceptivity) AND (Co-Communicant NPA-NXX-SSSS = 212-555-1234) AND (Noconnection has been made within 30 days) THEN CONNECT ELSE DO NOTCONNECT

[0044] Data elements such as personal attributes, addressable devicestatus, addressable device properties, and station-specific procedurallogic may be maintained at the station level in the networkarchitecture, or at any other level within or without the networkarchitecture as determined by technical, economic, and/or conveniencecriteria, so long as such data elements are accessible to the connectionprocessor.

[0045] In one embodiment of the present invention, a wireless telephonesubscriber A traveling in a distant city Y specifies to the wirelessnetwork a receptivity to communications with other wireless subscribersbased in his home city, X, but currently located in city Y.

[0046] When the wireless network determines that:

[0047] Subscriber A's wireless telephone is not busy;

[0048] AND With respect to another subscriber, B, whose wirelesstelephone is based in city X, that B's wireless telephone is currentlylocated in city Y;

[0049] AND B's wireless telephone is not busy;

[0050] AND B is receptive to NIC compatible with A's characteristics andrequirements

[0051] the wireless network will initiate call setup between thewireless telephones of A and B.

[0052] This very simple embodiment yields the utility of establishingtelephone contact between two persons with a common characteristic, inthis case the home city, with no time or effort spent by either party inactively searching for, or attempting to contact, the other.

[0053] The foregoing and other features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent in light of the following detaileddescription of exemplary embodiments of the invention, as illustrated inthe accompanying drawings, wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0054]FIG. 1 shows a communication system according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

[0055]FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one embodiment of the present invention.

[0056]FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a further embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0057]FIG. 4 is a flow chart a still further embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0058] As shown in FIG. 1, an embodiment of the present inventionincludes a communications network to which communicants such ascomputers 24, 26, users 27, 28, Internet TV 22 and answering machine 29may connect to send and receive messages. The communicants connect tothe network by way of addressable devices such as Internet TV 22,wireless telephone 23, land line telephone 21, answering machine 29,computer 24 and PDA 25. While the drawing shows a single example of eachcommunicant and addressable device, it is understood that a plurality ofcommunicants and devices are contemplated. The network preferablyincludes the Public Switched Telephone Network 10, a cable televisionnetwork interfaced by a cable exchange switching office 13, a wirelessnetwork 12 and the Internet 11. The network according to the inventionmay include one or more of the foregoing networks in combination or itmay include one or more of each network either alone or in combinationwith others. While the Internet is shown, it is understood thatintranets and other networks of that type can be used.

[0059] The system according to the present invention for carrying outthe invention over the network includes a central switch 30 connected tothe network and to an associative database 32 that maintains informationabout the parameters involved in determining if and when to initiatecommunications. This information includes data about the networkcommunicants such as personal attributes, data relating to the networkdevices such as network address, availability status (such as on-hookand off-hook), and device type.

[0060] The system also has a connection processor 31 to initiatecommunications between communicants when conditions are met. Theconnection processor can be a single computer such as a Windows basedPC, a Macintosh based computer or a plurality of computers connectedtogether. The connection processor makes the logical determination ifand when the data warrants call initiation based upon the information inthe database and the data received through the switch 30. For example,communicant A may wish to communicate from his land line telephone withan expert in a certain field if and only if that expert is located in aspecific geographic area. The system, knowledgeable of the personalattributes of communicants and the locations of fixed and mobileaddressable devices, can detect the presence of such an expert's landline or wireless telephone in the geographic area and initiate atelephonic connection between communicant A and the expert.

[0061] Alternatively, communicant A may wish to communicate from hiswireless telephone with the expert under a condition of specifiedgeographic proximity. As communicant A moves about, the system candetermine proximity between A and the expert (if it has sufficient inputdata), and initiate the network connection when the specific proximitycriteria are met.

[0062] The complexity and sophistication of NIC are virtually limitless.By way of example and without limitation to the scope of the presentinvention, criteria may include geographic, spatial, temporal,historical, personal, behavioral, device type, network addressspecification, and/or any other information that can be represented inthe system's database.

[0063] When the system recognizes that conditions for NIC have been met,it attempts to establish communications between two or more users. Forexample, the system may initiate a teleconference with a specified listof portfolio managers if the market price of a specified security fallsbelow a specified price.

[0064] According to yet another embodiment, a communicant may specifyconditions which prevent the network from including him in a NIC, suchas a time restriction.

[0065] According to yet another embodiment, the network's operators mayspecify conditions which prevent or require a communicant's inclusion inone or more classes of NIC, such as account delinquency.

[0066] In addition to the limitations a user may place uponcommunications with himself, the system may have criteria by which itwill not initiate a communication, and third parties may likewise definecriteria that will prevent the network from initiating communications.This may include statistical and probabilistic classes, fuzzy criteria,and/or tolerances for failure. The connection processor may learn aboutcommunicants' operating characteristics over time and incorporate thisexperience into the database.

[0067] When the conditions for initiating a specific NIC are met, thesystem automatically initiates a set-up of the communication.

[0068] Consider an example wherein a communicant's telephone service isprovided by his cable television provider. The communicant may specifyto the system database a personal attribute which is non-receptivity totelephone calls while the cable TV converter box is on, or is on andtuned to a particular channel. If so decided by the communicant, thisattribute may be taken as sufficient to prevent NICs to that communicantduring that time period.

[0069] In a similar example, communicants may specify receptivity tocommunications from other communicants who are currently tuned in to thesame cable TV channel as they are.

[0070] A feature of the invention may provide for various novel servicesto communicants using mobile addressable devices. For example, thesystem may track the location of a wireless communicant and initiatecommunications between that communicant and service vendors who havespecified a desire to communicate with wireless communicants inspecified locations, or within specified proximity to a specifiedgeographic location. Similarly, the previous example could be furtherlimited by a time parameter, such that NIC is initiated with arestaurant only at meal time.

[0071] The various applications of the system are wide ranging. Novelservices that may be provided include telephone call set-up betweenspecified parties conditioned on historical levels of networkcommunications between those parties, to insure minimum or maximumlevels of interaction. As shown in FIG. 2, one basic method of thepresent invention involves the system i receiving criteria for a futureconnection in step 100. In step 101, the system stores the connectioncriteria in the database and in step 102, the system monitors datarelating to the criteria. The system initiates the connection in step103 when the criteria are met.

[0072] A particularly valuable utilization of the invention is toimprove the handling of customer service calls.

[0073] For example, the invention can eliminate the necessity of acaller waiting in queue when calling a customer service center. This isshown by way of example in FIG. 3. In accordance with the invention, acommunicant may specify that he wishes to communicate with the customerservice center of a specified company in step 200 and also specify instep 201 when: a) his own telephone is not busy; b) the time is between7 PM and 9 PM; c) the day is not Monday or Friday; and, d) an agent inthat customer service center is available to interact with him. Theconnection processor will monitor the date, time, and status of thecommunicant's telephone and the telephones in the customer servicecenter, in step 202 and will initiate call set-up between thecommunicant and the customer service agent when all of these conditionsare met in step 203. This minimizes the expense of waiting in a queuefor both parties to the communication, and enhances the goodwill of thecompany as perceived by the communicant.

[0074] Another example is shown in FIG. 4 for initiating a call when twowireless telephone users are in the same location. In step 300, thesystem receives a wireless telephone number from a communicant for afuture NIC. In step 301, the system receives criteria from thecommunicant for the NIC. In this example, the criteria include not onlycriteria used to determine which wireless telephone will be the secondparty to the NIC, but also the criterion that the two telephones be atthe same mall at the same time. In step 302, the system monitors thelocation of the communicant's wireless telephone and the locations ofall other wireless telephones which meet the criteria for being thesecond party to the call. In step 303, the system initiates NIC when thecriteria are met; i.e., when the communicant is at the mall, and at thesame time a second wireless telephone meeting the communicant's criteriais also at the mall.

[0075] Example Applications of Network-Initiated Communications:

[0076] Automatic set-up of a telephone call between a communicant'swireless telephony device and his residential land line whenever thewireless telephone enters an area within a specified distance of theresidence.

[0077] Automatic set-up of a telephone call between a communicant'swireless telephony device and a residential computer whenever thewireless telephony device enters a specified geographic area around aspecified location (e.g., a particular vendor).

[0078] Automatic set-up of a telephone call between twocommunicant-specified wireless telephones whenever one of the wirelesstelephones leaves a specified geographic area.

[0079] Automatic set-up of a telephone call between telephony devices asspecified by a communicant's interaction with a World Wide Web site orsites.

[0080] Automatic set-up of a telephone call between a vendor and acustomer when the connection processor matches the bid and asked pricesfor a specified good or service.

[0081] Automatic setup of real-time messaging between Internetcommunicants who have requested to be connected with otherrandomly-selected communicants from among those meeting specifiedcriteria.

[0082] Input data may be input by any means, including, but not limitedto, the following: addressable devices, wireless telephones, land-linetelephones, electronic mail, the Internet, paper forms, data filetransfer, optical transmission, bar-code scanning, packet-switchednetworks, and wireless data transmission.

[0083] Modification of the connection configuration, including theexclusion or inclusion of specific communicants, signal modulation,connection duration, and process termination, may be determined by inputdata received and/or processed after the start of the connectionprocess.

[0084] In addition to using the input data to determine whether or notto initiate a message exchange, input data may be used, with or withoutadditional data obtained after initiation of message exchange, to modifythe message exchange, for example, to add or exclude communicants, or toalter the parameters of the connection among the communicants (e.g.,increasing the bandwidth of the connection to allow for videotransmission).

[0085] It is understood that the embodiments described hereinabove aremerely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of theinvention. It is realized that various changes, alterations,rearrangements and modifications can be made by those skilled in the artwithout substantially departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing telecommunicationsservices in a telecommunications network, comprising the steps by atelecommunications service provider of: monitoring data relating tocommunications initiation criteria for at least two communicants in thetelecommunications network; and initiating communications between the atleast two communicants by determining, by processing the data, that thecriteria have been met.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein thetelecommunications network is the Public Switched Telephone Network. 3.The method according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications networkis a wireless telephony network.
 4. The method according to claim 1,wherein the telecommunications network is a wireless data network. 5.The method according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications networkis the Internet.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein thetelecommunications network is an intranet.
 7. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the telecommunications network includes a wirelessconnection to the Internet.
 8. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe telecommunications network is a cable television network.
 9. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the telecommunications networkincludes at least two selected from the group consisting of the PublicSwitched Telephone Network, a wireless telephony network, a wirelessdata network, the Internet, an intranet, and a cable television network.10. The method according to any of claim 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9,wherein the data processed comprise geographic data.
 11. The methodaccording to claim 10, wherein the geographic data comprise the physicallocations of the at least two communicants.
 12. The method according toclaim 10, wherein the geographic data comprise the distances between theat least two communicants.
 13. The method according to claim 10, whereinthe geographic data comprise the physical locations of at least one ofthe at least two communicants in relation to another location other thanthat of another of the at least two communicants.
 14. The methodaccording to claim 10, wherein the geographic data comprise motion of atleast one of the at least two communicants.
 15. The method according toclaim 10, where in the geographic data comprise the relative motion ofone communicant with respect to another communicant.
 16. The methodaccording to claim 10, wherein the geographic data comprise the motionof one communicant relative to an object other than another of the atleast two communicants.
 17. The method according to any of claim 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, wherein the data processed comprise temporal data.18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the temporal data comprisetime of day or day of the week data.
 19. The method according to claim17, wherein the temporal data comprise measures of elapsed time sincethe occurrence of a specified event or condition.
 20. The methodaccording to claim 17, wherein the temporal data comprise measures ofelapsed time between specified events or conditions.
 21. The methodaccording to claim 17, wherein the temporal data comprise a specifictime interval.
 22. The method according to claim 17, wherein thetemporal data comprise a specific time.
 23. The method according toclaim 17, wherein the temporal data comprise a time range.
 24. Themethod according to claim 17, wherein the temporal data comprise a daterange.
 25. The method according to any of claim 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or9, wherein the data processed comprise network component status data.26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the network componentstatus data comprise an addressable device type.
 27. The methodaccording to claim 25, wherein the network component status datacomprise availability of an addressable device.
 28. The method accordingto claim 25, wherein the network component status parameters comprisechannel capacity utilization.
 29. The method according to claim 25,wherein network component status parameters comprise component failuretolerance.
 30. The method according to claim 25, wherein the networkcomponent status parameters comprise component failure history.
 31. Themethod according to claim 25, wherein the network component statusparameters comprise network capacity utilization.
 32. The methodaccording to any of claim 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, wherein the dataprocessed comprise communicant-specific parameters.
 33. The methodaccording to claim 32, wherein the communicant-specific parameterscomprise at least one of sex, race, age, native language, height,weight, physical characteristics, religion, sexual preference, politicalaffiliation, educational attainment, personal income, net worth,activity interests, aesthetic preference, culinary preference, physicalfitness, intelligence, possessions, and aspirations.
 34. The methodaccording to claim 32, wherein the communicant-specific parameterscomprise goods, services, or consideration offered by a communicant. 35.The method according to claim 32, wherein the communicant-specificparameters comprise the price or other consideration offered for goodsor services by the communicant.
 36. The method according to claim 32,wherein the communicant-specific parameters comprise the price or otherconsideration sought for goods or services by the communicant.
 37. Themethod according to claim 32, wherein the communicant-specificparameters comprise temporal parameters.
 38. The method according toclaim 32, wherein the communicant-specific parameters comprisegeographic parameters.
 39. The method according to claim 32, wherein thecommunicant-specific parameters comprise network component parameters.40. The method according to claim 1, wherein the monitored data includedata provided by communicants.
 41. The method according to claim 1,wherein the monitored data include data provided by network components.42. The method according to claim 1, wherein the monitored data includeinvariant data integral to the network's design.
 43. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the monitored data include data providedby sources which are external to the network.
 44. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the data is processed in a manner involving at leastone random number.
 45. The method according to claim 1, wherein the datais processed by at least one of arithmetic, logical, procedural,statistical, probabilistic, arbitrary, geometrical, or textual methods.46. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data is processed byartificial intelligence methodology.